Shiny Happy Jihad.Talking Monkeys in Space.I’m Gonna Be Dead Someday.Live From the Belly of the Beast.The titles of Joe Rogan’s recorded specials, DVDs or CDs reflect his inquisitiveness and
sense of the ridiculous in life.

The comedian, a man’s man and black belt who’s won national martial-arts
championships, hosted
Fear Factor for years and hosts
The Joe Rogan Experience, one of the most popular comedy podcasts on iTunes.

A writer for the British newspaper
The Guardian has described Rogan as one of the most complex and exciting stand-ups in
America today, "like an idealistic hippy stuck inside the body of a testosterone-pumped US
marine."

"His angry, insightful act," William Cook wrote in
The Guardian, "is an absorbing battle between his raw libertarian instincts and his
refined liberal sensibilities."

Rogan, a Boston native perhaps best known as resident electrician Joe
Garrelli on the NBC series
NewsRadio (and more recently a major character in the film
Here Comes the Boom), spoke to me in advance of his appearance Saturday March 2 at the
Palace Theatre.

Comedian Joe Rogan Credit: Brian Friedman

To whet your appetite for his Columbus appearance – and also for a Q
& A feature with Rogan that will appear on Friday’s Life cover – here are a few questions and
answers that didn’t make it into print:

Q: You’ve visited Columbus a lot.
A: I’ve been coming to the Funny Bone for years; it’s one of the best clubs in the country.
When you have a club like that, it helps people cultivate a taste for comedy.

Q: When did you start thinking you could have a career in comedy?
A: It wasn’t until I tried it. I was a huge fan of standup comedy, but never thought I’d be a
professional until I saw an open-mike night and got onstage in 1988 in Boston. I was 21 and I’d
written stuff down for about six months. I tried to figure out how I’d get through five minutes of
talking onstage. I did my five minutes and I was awful – but I was intrigued that it was even a
possibility.

Q: Since 2002, you’ve offered commentary for the UFC (Ultimate Fighting
Championship) on Pay Per View, Spike Television and Fox. Two years after starting to practice
martial arts at 13, you earned a black belt and soon became the Massachusetts full-contact Tae Kwon
Do champion for four consecutive years and, by 19, winner of the US Open Tae Kwon do Championship.
Then as lightweight champion, you went on to beat the middle and heavyweight title-holders to
obtain the Grand Championship. Yet, you apparently don’t mention martial-arts much in your stand-up
act.

A: I never talked about it onstage because I never thought anyone wanted
to hear it. I thought people would either challenge me or mock me. A lot of people don’t like the
idea of someone who’s funny and who can kick their ass. They’d rather you be a fat comedian or
feeble or self-deprecating.

Q: Anything new in the works?
A:
Question Everything, my tentative show for the Syfy Channel, is based on mysteries that a
lot of people seem to get obsessed with from Big Foot to UFO’s, ghosts, psychics and strange fringe
subjects.
Comedians give their take on it – believers and nonbelievers – and put some of these ideas to
bed.

Q: What’s a favorite mystery that you like to ponder?
A: My family and I like to go the Keck Observatory in Hawaii. You drive through the clouds at
9,000 feet and break through the cloud layer. The amount of stars you see is stunning, an
incredible view of the Milky Way...

We have ruined that with lights.

Q Do you ever fear running out of material?
A The beautiful thing about being a comedian is that human beings are crazy.